Israeli students design race car for Italian contest

BGU, Bezalel engineering students team up to build race car for collegiate design competition.

Engineering students at Beersheba’s Ben- Gurion University and industrial
designers at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design have built a
futuristic-looking race car for a collegiate design competition in Italy this
month.

This will be the second year in which Israel participates in the
much-anticipated Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), but it will be
the first year that BGU has partnered with Bezalel.

Last year, the BGU
team did very well in its debut performance, considered the best of the new
teams and coming in 15th overall out of 57 competitors. This year, in
conjunction with Bezalel, the team is hoping for even greater
improvement.

Formula SAE is a testing ground for the next generation of
world-class engineers and designers, challenging teams of university students
from around the world to design and build a single-seat racing car.

The
car is then put to the test on race tracks in different parts of the globe. The
Formula SAE Italy will take place at the Riccardo Paletti Circuit in Varano de’
Melegari, near Parma, from Friday September 14 to Monday, September
17.

The Bezalel students developed a car design course especially for
this project that was initiated by senior lecturer Dori Regev.

Students
from BGU’s department of mechanical engineering gave the car its Formula- style
look.

“The project presented the unique opportunity to bring together
developers from these two complementary disciplines, which allowed them to
conduct a mutually-enriching and real development process, with a front-line
view of creating a real automotive product,” said Regev.

“The course’s
aim was to simulate a realistic design process, where overlapping disciplines
such as aerodynamics and styling can be discussed and concepts can evolve
through a mutual process. The students researched the stylistic language of race
cars, the historical perspective and the contemporary relevance,” he
said.

BGU team leader Ben Levitan said that “the annual competition
features academic institutions designing a vehicle that must meet given
specifications, and presenting it for a competitive score. The vehicle must meet
the criteria of performance, engineering excellence, innovation, and general
appearance.”

SAE International, the competition’s founder, is the world
leader in automotive engineers.

Your comment must be approved by a moderator before being published on JPost.com.
Disqus users can post comments automatically.

Comments must adhere to our Talkback policy. If you believe that a comment has breached the Talkback policy, please press the flag icon to bring it to the attention of our moderation team.